Alec Guinness

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Claim to fame: Alec Guinness has had many roles throughout his career, however his most notable was as 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' in the original Star Wars trilogy, beginning in 1977, for which he received Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.

In letters to his friends, Guinness described the film as "fairy tale rubbish," but the film's sense of moral good – and the studio's doubling of his initial salary offer – appealed to him, and he signed on.

Where are they now? Guinness died on 5 August 2000, from liver cancer, at Midhurst in West Sussex. He had been receiving hospital treatment for glaucoma, and had recently also been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Guinness wrote three volumes of a best-selling autobiography, beginning with Blessings in Disguise in 1985, followed by My Name Escapes Me in 1996, and A Positively Final Appearance in 1999. He recorded each of them as an audiobook.

Shortly after his death, Lady Guinness asked the couple's close friend and fellow Catholic, novelist Piers Paul Read, to write Guinness's official biography. It was published in 2003.